SUNDATTAM MOVIE REVIEW

Set in the early 90s, Sundattam, directed by debutant Brahma Dev and starring Irrfan and Arundati in the lead, deals about a carom board player, his love and arduous life. Produced by AD Film Fame Productions, the film’s technical team consists of Composer Britto, cinematographer Balagurunathan and editor LV Thasson.

Sundattam talks about North Madras’ most celebrated and dangerous gambling arena of early 90s and the cruelty it brought to its players.

Prabhakaran aka Prabha (Irrfan) is a professional board player, who uses his striker only to gamble. He encounters a girl and falls in love with her. He meets with a number of challenges as he tries to balance between his life as a gambler and love life.

So, good things first! The good aspect of the film is its cinematography and the DI coloring. Balagurunathan’s camera work makes every frame look realistic and rugged, but picturesque. The shots used when the characters are high with drugs are note-worthy. Secondly the DI coloring enhances the raw look of this period setup film.

Thirdly, the background music by Britto in the second half of the movie is interesting. With the extensive exploitation of myriad of rhythmic instruments, the BGs maintain the suspense throughout the run.

Irrfan, who plays the hero, lacks screen presence. His inhibited emotions are obvious and he has to work on his voice. On the contrary, Arundati shows promise and her subtleness in portraying her character might win the hearts of the male audience. Madhu plays the main villain. Though he aptly looks cruel, his voice is hard on the senses.

Naren plays a gangster and the episode which shows the acrimony between him and another gangster, Ameer, ends abruptly. However, both the actors play their part with perfection.

The film also has few noisy rowdies. Though it is understood that the film is set in the 90s, watching these over exaggerative bad guys on screen is annoying.

However, director Brahma Dev must be appreciated for his sincere effort in showing the dark side of early North Madras in a convincing and gritty way. But his script fails him. It lacks the elements of surprise and is too straight forward. Is Sundattam a story of gang war, love or carom board, remains unclear.

On the whole, Sundattam doesn’t keep you glued, but the rawness might attract few eyes.